The Request
by quinnley1
Summary: Yet another Daria and Trent write songs together fic, but hopefully different enough. Background for another story in a series. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the show Daria or any of it's characters. They are the sole property of the copyright holders. I am not making any money from this story, and no infringement is intended.

*Author's Note*

Rated T for some language and adult themes, no lemon. Since I'm new to the fanfic world I'm not entirely sure, but I'd hazard a guess that this is not fluff or a Mary Sue. Probably safe to say this achieves shipper status, but you be the judge. Anything written in _italics_ is the unspoken thought of the character. I will toss in a chapter or two that is not from the main character's POV, but I'll designate when I switch. This takes place canonically after IICY, and Daria's first college year is over. She is home from college for the summer. I tried to make this and the other parts of the series as realistic as possible, but I'm sure die-hard fans will say that there is a lot of OOC.

This is the first installment of a three-part series I'm working on, once all chapters of "The Request" are up I'll start posting the next part, called "The Pole".

**The Request**

**June 17****th**

"Dar-ia! I hope you're not planning on sleeping until noon every day during summer break. Time to get up and at least pretend that you are in training to be a productive member of society!"

_I wonder if this is what triggered the Mendez Brothers? I have been home a total of TWO days, and Mom is already on my case apparently. Never mind that I need to let my brain catch up on sleep after my first year at college; let's just goad Daria into a psychotic episode now that she's home and more susceptible to our torture!_

"This is the last time I'm going to ask you to come down before I come and drag you out Daria!"

"I'm getting up, woman!"

_I guess I can just slip back into bed once she leaves abruptly for work like she always does. Glad to see that some things never change._

I got dressed and headed downstairs to spend my forced family-time ignoring them with the paper and some strong coffee. This first year at Raft University had really kicked my ass mentally, not because the subject matter had been hard really but there was just so much tedious work involved with the classes I had taken. I needed to fall back into a mindless routine for a bit to recover.

_Part of that was my fault though_, I thought to myself as I walked down the stairs_, I'm the one who was stupid enough to want a challenge. Why in the hell did I sign up for a 20 unit course load for my first shot at college?_

"Hey kiddo, I got your favorite sections of the paper next to the coffee pot for you!" Dad asked me as I lumbered into the kitchen.

"Um, thanks Dad. Are you cooking something?"

"Why, do you smell something burning?"

"No … wait, was that a joke?"

"HA! Yeah Daria, I was just trying to get you to crack a smile. Haven't seen you since your spring break and you weren't in the mood then. Not like what I had to go through … 'SMILE Jakie, you had better show how THANKFUL you are' … thankful for WHAT?!?! Being allowed home two weeks a year to be subjected in person to the cruelty of that MAN…"

"Dad, it's too early for me to follow your path of childhood trauma. Can we do this after I've had enough coffee to kill a Colombian?"

_Or, hopefully, never? Maybe I can distract him with something shiny …_

"Oh, sorry kiddo. I never thought about it before but it probably hurts you girls when I talk about the horrible things that have happened to me in the past. That's why you hate to hear about it, right?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. That's exactly why we hate your stories. Mom too; it just hurts us to know how badly your childhood went."

_Don't know how much more of this family interaction thing I can take. Being able to go days, sometimes a week at a time without talking to them is like manna from the gods. At least it looks like Mom left before I even brushed my teeth. Oh and thank whatever merciful power-that-be that arranged it so that Quinn would be on a month-long trip with that Stacy girl right now. I'll be acclimated to Mom and Dad again by the time she gets home. Sure we've been getting along better now that she is trying harder to be a decent human, but she's still Quinn._

"So, your mom wants me to ask you what's on the agenda today?"

"The usual: read, write, nap, TV, world domination, and not necessarily in that order."

"I can stay home from my meetings today and we can hang out if you want something to do. HEY! Let's go hiking again or something!"

"Uh, no thanks, remember what happened the last time we tried to become one with nature? Besides, I think I better call Jane. I haven't seen her in a month and we need to talk about the possibility of us renting a place together now that we can choose to stay in the dorms or not."

"Oh, ok Daria; just let me know if you want to do something with your old man."

_At least he didn't sound too dejected. I'll have to try and do something nice for him during my break. Poor dad; he's here with Quinn and Mom and I'm not here to distract them periodically from bothering him anymore._

After I finished my toast I picked up the phone and dialed my best friend's number by route. I was greeted with a rather cranky reply on the other line.

"What?"

"Glad to hear that you are still so full of what I have been told is 'charm', I was worried my civilizing influence would wear off since I haven't seen you in a month."

"And here I was thinking that I was the good influence on you. Hey Daria, you back in town yet?"

"Yeah, sorry I didn't call sooner; I just needed a day or so of down time. No deadlines, no place to be, no real conversations, sleeping more than Trent. It was nice. I can see the appeal now of his lifestyle."

"See? You two were made for each other, I always knew it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Enjoying sleep is exactly the way to set up a solid foundation for a long and loving relationship I hear. Tell him to get over here to ask my father for my hand so we can get it over with already."

"Hang on a sec, I'll go wake him … HEY TRENT!!!!"

"Jane! How often do I have to threaten you with bodily harm before you get it that I'm not interested in your brother anymore, I've moved on from my crush and I wish you would too."

"Eh, until I get bored with this. Don't worry, he only conked out 5 hours ago so he'll be dead to the world for another 4 to 6 hours before he's ready to get up. So chica, got any plans for the day?"

"Actually I was hoping I could come over, if I stay here any longer I'll either go to sleep again to escape the boredom or I'll end up killing one of my parents."

"Which one?"

"Don't care; who ever happens to be within arm's distance first I suppose."

"Well as much as I long to preserve human life, I'll have to say that you coming over is a no-go. The house has been invaded by termites and some of the walls and floors aren't exactly safe."

"So, it's safe enough for you and Trent to live there, but not safe enough for visitors?"

"We know where all the soft spots are. You'd just clomp through the floor into the basement or something."

"Excuse me for not taking 'How to Be a Dainty Flower 101' during my first run at Raft. I'll make sure to take it next time."

"Actually, I wanted to ask you if we could stay at your house for two weeks. You know how expensive BFAC is and Trent is always low on cash. We can't really afford a hotel if we have to pay for the fumigation and the repairs to make this place habitable again."

"You … and Trent … stay here … for two weeks?"

"Yeah, since you're over my brother it really shouldn't be a problem now should it?" I could actually hear the smirk on her face as she spoke.

"Uh … no, no problem at all. I'll just check with my parents tonight; it will be nice to have more some sanity in this house for an extended period of time."

"You mean until being that close to Trent drives you insane, right?"

"That's it; you're sleeping in Quinn's room."


	2. Chapter 2

**June 21****st**

"Since Quinn isn't here and you two will be staying longer this time," Helen rambled as she led Jane and Trent upstairs, "I don't want you sleeping on the couch this time Trent. You can take Daria's room and the girls can sleep in Quinn's room."

Jane smiled darkly as she stated "Apparently if I have to suffer, you have to suffer along with me."

"Why do I have to move into Quinn's room?"

I was already getting perturbed at this situation. Yeah, I like Jane and Trent and I hang out with them any chance I get. Yet now I was going to be assailed with embarrassment on all fronts for two weeks. Trent was going to have access to my stuff and I couldn't clear everything out of there without it looking like I had something to hide. Jane was going to use every opportunity to make a snide joke about Trent and I and this time I had nowhere to run to. My parents would constantly be inadvertently mortifying me by just being themselves. Now I have to live in a pink room too?

"Really Daria, do you expect me to force this young man into the most feminine room in the house?" she gestured at Trent.

"Just think of it as an opportunity to look for blackmail material. Besides, your bed will smell like him until you wash your sheets." Jane whispered into my ear.

"What a bonus. He smells like something hippies use patchouli to cover up and late nights at the Zen. Why don't you think about bottling that scent? " I whispered back as we got into the upstairs hallway.

"Hey, we can call it 'Unwashed Musician' and make a fortune. I assume you will buy the first bottle, right?"

Helen suddenly turned around before barreling head first into her speech.

"Now I think it's time to go over the rules. I realized that last time you two stayed with us we never told you what they are and I'm not going to make THAT mistake again. Daria you've been off living without any guidance for almost a year but now that you are home you have to abide by these rules as well. Number one: if you are going out after dark please let us know where you will be and when we can expect you home. It's really hard for me to say this, but there is no curfew. You are all old enough and Trent I know you 'work' late so please just be responsible and keep us up to date. Number two: no alcohol or any other substances in our house. Finally number three: no boyfriends or girlfriends up in the rooms."

"Dang it, and here I was making plans for tonight that involved getting high with some guy I just met before I left school, jumping his bones, and then sneaking out to stay at his place for a few days without telling you. Don't worry though, he seemed nice, even offered me a blindfold so that I could get some extra shut-eye on the drive over there …"

"DARIA, please tell me you aren't saying things like that in front of your father," Mom said as she turned and walked back down stairs, "I don't want him to have another heart attack. Why can't you put the effort you instill into making sarcastic remarks into finding a summer job?"

"Wow, so inebriated sex with strangers. College really loosened you up huh? If that's what I have to look forward to once I get to college I can't wait!" Jane said emphatically.

"Good one Daria," chuckled Trent, "Hey, you guys mind if I crash? I'm supposed to go to Jesse's place for practice at 3 o'clock and I want to get some sleep before I leave."

Jane checked the clock on the wall before looking back at Trent with what I assume is something close to the love only a mother could feel. "Trent, it's almost 4 o'clock already."

"Oh, then I guess I'd better go. What time is dinner around here?"

_Yeah right, like he'll be on time for dinner._

"You know what Trent? We'll save a plate for you. If you come back really late here's my key, I don't think Jane and I are going out anywhere tonight."

"Thanks Daria, I'll take off then and let you girls catch up. Oh and thanks also, for letting us stay here. I'll try not to get too annoying."

"Just don't lose my key. Bye Trent."

He walked down the stairs and as soon as she heard the front door close Jane was on my case.

"You gave him your key! In some circles that basically means 'drop by anytime you like so we can do it'. How bold you have become since you finally did the deed, Ms. Morgendorffer. By the way, you still haven't told me how Tom was during your visit to go see him in October."

"Shut the hell up Jane. I've already told you, against my better judgment, that it happened and that's all you are going to get out of me. It was a moment of weakness from my otherwise stellar track record of having control over myself. I just don't want to talk about that little event."

"Little, huh? I guess he was over-compensating with all that fancy talk …"

"You know, if I didn't have witnesses in the house I would have punched you by now."

"Ahh, look who's getting all mushy on me. You must have really missed me."

"That's only because I cheaped out and didn't buy the scope for my rifle yet." I said with a smirk.

"Well amiga I missed you to. Now let's go watch some TV while making jabs at other's expense like old times."


	3. Chapter 3

**June 24****th**

It had only been a few days into their stay but already we all fell into a routine as if Mom, Dad, Trent, Jane and I had been living together for years. Mom was usually up first and made a strong pot of coffee in a vain attempt to wake everyone up nicely with the smell. Surprisingly, this tactic worked on Jane every time and after a cup she would go for a run. Usually, Dad would be up next and his method of waking me up worked best: arguing with the toaster or some other appliance that had not worked the way he wanted it to that morning.

_Being 'awake' doesn't always mean that I have to be 'up', right?_

I usually found myself staying in bed until hunger/coffee needs forced me out of Quinn's room. By then Mom had usually left for work, Jane had showered and gone off to her job at Gary's Gallery, and Dad was on his way to his office or out meeting a client. Trent typically stayed in my room sleeping (I hope) until 2 o'clock before heading out to 'practice' with the guys.

_It's almost like I'm living alone, I never see anyone unless Dad stays home longer or by some miracle Trent gets up before noon. Seems like all I do is eat, read, sleep, mess around on the internet, shower like I'm doing now, and repeat until Jane gets back. God I'm getting bored. Maybe Mom was right and I should get a job? I wouldn't exactly call getting a job and dealing with the masses 'entertainment'. Unless I can find a job that makes them miserable, but I don't want to put in that much effort._

"Shit," I muttered to myself as I got out of the shower. I had forgotten to go to 'my' room first and get my change of clothes, and I didn't want to put my dirty stuff back on. I wrapped the towel around myself and peaked out into the hallway. Not seeing anyone I went to my bedroom door and knocked.

_Hope he's out. Not sure I can handle anyone seeing me in a towel, let alone Trent. No answer; but he could just be sleeping. I'll just go in quietly and get my stuff if he's hibernating again._

Sure enough, I saw his unmoving feet on my bed as I cracked the door open. Sure that he must be sleeping, I opened the door fully to the shock of my life. There was Trent lying on MY bed, wearing MY headphones, listening to MY CD player, and reading through what could basically be construed as MY journal.

_I had thought that one was pretty well hidden, so what's he doing going through my stuff? What did I write in that one? I thought I was peeved at him when he got us lost in the dessert on that stupid Mystik Spiral concert tour; that was nothing compared to the rage I'm feeling right now._

I walked up to my bed quickly and snatched the composition journal from his hands, startling him.

"Daria! Um, what are you doing?" he said as he eyed my towel. Trent slipped the headphones off and started looking a little uncomfortable.

"What am I doing? Gee, I don't know Trent. I just got out of the shower and I needed a change of clothes. You didn't answer so I thought it was safe to come in. I should be asking you what you are doing, but I can already see that you are busy going through my things." I spit out with my anger barely contained.

"Um, sorry, I couldn't sleep anymore and I was bored. Plus, I didn't think you'd mind that much …"

"Didn't think I'd mind? Why would you ever think I'd be okay with you reading my …"

"Diary?" He cut me off with a smirk and a trademark eyebrow lift.

"This is NOT my diary! I don't have a diary!" I shouted at him.

Trent looked a little freaked out about being yelled at, or maybe being yelled at by a woman in a towel was the real reason, but he really got me with what he said next.

"I just figured that since you looked through my lyrics book when I asked you not to, that it wouldn't be such a big deal if I helped myself to some reading material."

I was speechless. I could feel my jaw drop as my righteous indignation drained from me and was replaced by guilt.

"How … I mean …"

"How did I know you took a peak? I taped a piece of hair to the covers so that it would break if opened by someone who didn't know it was there. I was never really sure that you broke it, but you just confirmed my suspicions."

_Damn, he's cleverer than I ever gave him credit for if he managed to trap me like that._

"Um, I guess you got me there, but I only checked out one song before rushing out of the house to try get to Freemont so I could bail you guys out before the station closed. How long have you been sitting here listening to my music and reading my thought book?"

"Well I was just going to glance through it, but there are so many random things in here. It's completely disjointed and has no connection at all; I had been hoping that it was a story but this was much cooler and I couldn't put it down. What is all of this stuff anyway?"

"It's nothing. It's just some odd bits and pieces of story ideas, beliefs, theories, and what I consider to be clever turns of phrases that might come in handy in future writing projects. It was never meant to be seen in this raw format. I call it my 'thought book'. Everything goes in there that I don't want to have bouncing around in my head anymore, but I can't talk about it with anyone because none of it makes sense."

"You know what a lot of these sentences look like to me?"

"Crap? The delusional scribbling of a high and mighty geek?"

"NO. You know what? I really hate it when you get down on yourself for just being who you are," Trent said as he shook his head in frustration at me, "they look like song lyrics to me. Good ones too."

I looked at him with suspicion. Not only has he been going through my things and somehow managed to put the blame on me, he is now messing with my ego.

"They aren't anything Trent, but they are especially not song lyrics. Hell, there are only one or two poems in the whole book! None of what I have written in here even looks like a song."

"True, as-is none of what you have written here is a formal song. But with some effort a lot of this could be worked into songs …"

"Formal? Effort? Worked? You are talking crazy talk Trent Lane. Besides, why would I want to turn this stuff into songs? I'm not a singer; they kicked me out of my elementary school choir because my voice made the other kids cry."

"Actually … I was, um, I was hoping that …," Trent stammered, and having never seen him stammer before I was finding it surprisingly cute all of a sudden, "I was hoping that you might be willing to work with me on writing some new material for Mystik Spiral. You have always seemed to have a way with words and after going through your book I think your skills might help give us that push we need."

_I'll give you a push, right over the nearest cliff._

"I don't know Trent …" I said as I tried to turn away. I didn't want to see his face when I turned him down.

"Wait, don't say no yet," he said quickly as he got up from the bed and put his hands on my bare shoulders to stop me from turning away, "let's just talk about it. I'm sorry about invading your privacy if that's why you want to say no, but I really think you have something here and I think it would be cool if we worked together in this."

Honestly, I didn't really hear him talking anymore after he put his hands on me. His calloused finger tips were very distracting, even though he was touching me in a purely platonic manner. It felt like my nerves were trying to jump out of my skin where ever he placed his hands. My skin didn't react this way even when I had finally had sex with Tom. I forced myself to pull away from his hands and I noticed that a look of realization, quickly followed by a one of apology, came over his face.

_He must think that I didn't like him touching me. He knows how I feel about contact, and now he's going to feel bad about it. Damnit, I can feel myself blushing again. I'm sure that I'm still over Trent, so what's going on? _

"Will you at least just think about it?" he asked me earnestly.

"Fine, I'll think about it and we can discuss this some more. But I think better fully clothed," I said as I gestured down to my towel. I had nearly forgotten that it was all I was wearing besides my glasses.

Trent suddenly found something fascinating on the floor, because he refused to look at me. It might've been my imagination, but I could have sworn that I saw him turn a little pink as he started to head for the door.

"Thanks. I'll be downstairs getting some breakfast and waiting for you," he said as he started to pull the door closed behind him.

"Trent, its 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Shouldn't that be a late lunch?"

"To me, the first meal of the day is always breakfast," he shrugged as he finally closed the door.

I waited a bit, trying to get myself back firmly under control. After a minute or two, I noticed that I had not yet heard him walk away from the door. Slowly, I walked up to the door and locked it, and after that distinct click sound rang out I finally heard footfalls going down the hallway. The only other sound after that was the clunk of my head as I repeatedly thumped it against the door.


	4. Chapter 4

***Trent's POV***

**June 24****th**

_I love this room. Even if I've been finding it hard to sleep in here._

It was very distracting to me to be staying in this padded cell, and I've found that I had a hard time falling and staying asleep in here. Yet if I did have to be without that messy space that happens to hold my bed and my stuff, I was glad that I got to have Daria's room.

"Daria's room. I'm going to be staying in Daria's room, for two weeks," I had said to myself after I left to go to practice that first day. I'd figured that Mrs. M would have put me on the couch again, so it was a little unnerving to find out I'd be in that room. Surrounded by her things. Sleeping in her bed …

_Stop it; don't even think about trying that here. If anyone catches on they'll think I'm a pervert. I wish I could just man up and ask her out, she is 18 now after all and a college girl to boot. But I still just can't see myself getting together with her right now. She's going to school, bettering herself, and here I am still the same slacker who she hasn't seen in months. It would be weird if I just asked her on a date knowing that not only haven't we been talking much for the past few months, but that pretty soon she'll leave again. I should have taken the chance when I had it._

I had always known how she felt about me. Well maybe not always, but I figured it out pretty quickly as she and Janey became best friends. I made a point to be nice to her, but tried not to lead her on, as I got to know the one person besides myself that Jane wanted to spend time with. Sure, I may have abused my ability to influence her here and there, but it was just because I thought that she needed to let loose a little. I am positive that if I had been a crappier person, I could have taken advantage of her if I had put in the slightest effort to get her into my bed; yet anytime that thought flickered at the back of my head I pushed it away. In time I found that instead of just being Janey's friend, I counted her as one of mine as well.

_Damn that girl surprised me; for someone who lived less time on this earth than me, she sure knew a lot about life. She was smarter, more mature, and pretty damn self reliant; more so than I'll ever be. It wasn't until I realized that I let her down on that project and then that whole Tom fiasco that I realized I was feeling differently about her, but I couldn't figure out exactly how._

That summer before Daria started classes at Raft, she and Jane joined Mystik Spiral on our annual attempt at a concert tour for a month. Maybe this time we were a bit more successful because the girls had been with us so we behaved better, but it was our first time that we actually made money.

_Hey, $50 over what we spent on the whole trip is still a profit, right?_

It was spending all that time with Daria, and then realizing that soon I would barely see her at all that finally woke me up. Not to mention that being stuck on the road for a month with 3 other guys, your kid sister, and her friend who wears a black school-girl skirt all the time (and apparently doesn't realize what a turn-on it is) really made me think a lot more about her and what she means to me. Or maybe it was the fact that she didn't blush as much as she used to around me anymore. She was more comfortable around me by then and I figured she must be over me since she went out with Tom.

_I really, really miss that effect I once had on her._

I liked being in this room, but everything reminded me of the Daria I couldn't have. Studying the details of the room, I got up from the bed and decided to look around.

_It's actually very surprising that her mom didn't gut the place five minutes after she left for Raft. Maybe Helen knew that it would really piss Daria off; make her feel like her opinions don't matter in her own family or something if she had 'sanitized' her room by redecorating it._

That handrail had come in really handy in the dark; it took me straight to the door and then back to the bed if I wanted to get up and use the bathroom without opening my eyes. The bone collection that had once been all over the place was now in her bookcase by the door and her dresser with that model of a heart and a wedge of cheese.

_A heart and a piece of cheese? I never understood that combo. Maybe something to do with cholesterol? Or maybe it's like a joke; 'I heart cheese' or something. That would be cool._

I picked up a spiked dog collar from a pile of junk shoved to the corner on the floor.

_Whoa. I wonder when she got this; I don't think I've ever seen her with it. Scratch that thought, WHY does she have this?_

I tossed the collar back into the pile, and then I noticed her old portable CD player. Wondering what she was listening to most recently, I popped it open but it was a blank burned CD so I put on the headphones and turned it on. I was immediately hit with one of the greatest blues songs of all time, Muddy Water's "All Night Long". Amazed that she even knew who Muddy was, I scanned through he rest of the CD and found that it was full of other 50's and 60's blues greats like Howlin' Wolf, Sunnyland Slim, and John Lee Hooker among others.

_How in the hell did she learn about these guys? She even has the song 'Hoochie Coochie Man' on here. Never thought that her tastes ran to this early, and frankly really sexy, blues genre. She's still surprising me I guess._

I laid back down on her bed to drink in the sounds of some of the greatest musicians ever and looked out the window next to the head of Daria's bed. Checking out the grey canvas padding on the walls, I saw that the seam by the window had a pretty large tear, but you wouldn't notice it if you never stared directly at it. Curious as to why there were no other torn spots, I quickly figured out that it was a hiding place.

_Myself having several around my house, I better recognize a good place for a stash when I see it. So, Daria has something to hide, huh? Wonder what's in there._

Figuring that she would never know if I took a quick peak, I stuck my hand in the hole and pulled out one of those old black-and-white composition books like they used to use in schools a lot. I knew right away that I should put it back, that opening this book would be the biggest violation of her privacy ever, but damn it I wanted to look. Besides, I knew she had looked in my lyrics book; this could be like my secrete payback.

_What she doesn't know won't hurt me._

I opened the book and got lost reading this … I wasn't sure what it was. There were literally hundreds of completely unconnected lines of thought written in this book and I felt the urge to read each one of them. 'Life is just a slow rotting from the inside out' … 'the schizophrenic guard gets the girl and then doesn't want her because she's not interesting enough' … 'what ever happened to Razzels?' … it just went on and on from there.

_I was kinda hoping to read something she might have written about how she feels about me, but this is much more fascinating. Daria has such a distinct style and way with words even when she isn't writing anything concrete. If I could write songs like this Spiral would be really going somewhere … hey, a lot of this stuff could be really cool songs if played around with right. Wonder if I can somehow get Daria to help me write lyrics without letting her know I looked in her book._

I don't know how much time passed since I hate looking at clocks, but I was more than halfway through Daria's book when it was suddenly ripped from my grasp. Shocked that I had been caught so red-handed, I looked up and noticed that the only thing a very pissed-off looking Daria was wearing was a towel.

_God look at her, I've never gotten such a good look at her before. She looks amazing; I always knew she was hiding something special under all those clothes. That skin is so white I can almost see through it! Wait, why is she coming in here in just a towel? Was she finally about to make a real attempt towards me? Wow, that would be really forward, I don't know if I could handle that. I mean her dad is still in the house, I think. Damnit I better say something …_

"Daria! Um, what are you doing?" I quickly blurted out and pulled off the headphones. The music had apparently been loud enough that I hadn't heard her come in at all.

"What am I doing? Gee, I don't know Trent. I just got out of the shower and I needed a change of clothes. You didn't answer so I thought it was safe to come in. I should be asking you what you are doing, but I can already see that you are busy going through my things."

_Damn, it wasn't an attempt to seduce me. Even if it was, now that she's mad at me I don't think I would stand a chance getting her to go back to that feeling. Think quick Trent, fix this before you lose her completely; friendship and everything._

Shit. This wasn't going to be easy to get out of. I decided that I had better pull out the only leverage I had.


	5. Chapter 5

***Back to Daria's POV***

**June 24****th**

After changing into a pair of black jeans and dark grey sweater with a Mexican Day of the Dead skull embroidered on the back, I finally made my way downstairs with my thought book in hand. I had made damn sure that anything else that I might be humiliated by if it was discovered was safely out of my room and hidden in the crawl space in the attic first thought. Trent was lounging on the couch with his acoustic guitar in his lap and a mug of coffee in hand. I may have startled him a little bit by just jumping into what I wanted to say without really letting him know I was in the room first, but I was still mad about his rummaging around in my room. So I guess I really wouldn't have minded it if at that particular moment his hot coffee poured into his lap.

"Ok Trent, just so you know, I have booby-trapped my room and if you go snooping anymore you might be missing a finger by the end of your stay. Not beneficial to a career of playing the guitar."

He managed to hack out a little snort without spilling his coffee before turning towards me.

"So, while setting up the Temple of Doom recreation in your room did you have a chance to think about making music with me?"

_Oh please, if there is a god, give me the strength to get through this oblivious boy's unknowing double entendres. I get enough from his sister as it is._

"Yes, I've thought about it, and I'll do it but I have some conditions first."

Trent frowned at that. "Hhmm, you know how I feel about rules Daria," Trent said as he eyed me warily, "they stifle creativity and kill the soul. But if getting you to agree to this requires rules then let's hear them."

"I don't sing, ever. As long as you don't try and make me I'll stay and help."

"Don't worry, I would never try and make you do something you don't want to do."

"Thanks for the sentiment, but you already did …" I trailed off as I thought about our trip to Axl's Piercing Parlor where I was talked into an extra hole in my body that I didn't really want.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, never mind. I also don't want news of our endeavors to get around right now. Jane would probably get on my case about it and I honestly don't want the other guys in Mystik Spiral thinking that I'm trying to become your Yoko Ono."

"You know, it would probably help the process for you if you heard us playing the new songs so we can make changes right away but whatever you are comfortable with for now will work. By the way, I've always thought that Ono got blamed for something that really wasn't her fault. No band can stay together forever and she was just helping John discover new ways to express himself. Fans just needed a scapegoat so they picked the strong female figure to blame in that story."

"Very insightful Trent, but still, let's just keep this between us for now. If the guys respond well to the new songs that you introduce to them, then we'll let them know."

"Besides, we might already have Jesse's girlfriend honing in on the stereotypical Yoko position," Trent muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just this girl April that Jesse has been seeing. I like her since she treats the band well and she takes care of him. I've never seen him in love with anyone before; he's only ever had one-night stands or he fell into a relationship because he was too lazy to break up with a girl."

"So then, what's the problem?" I asked.

"He's changing for her. She isn't making him do it, but he feels that he has to be better for her because she deserve better than him."

"And that scares you, because he just might decide one day to change himself enough that he won't be the same friend anymore? That he won't want to be in Spiral anymore, right?"

"Yeah. April is pretty relaxed for a female, but she still wants things from mainstream life like kids and the ability to ride with us to gigs without having to slide around on the floor of the Tank."

"Silly woman, doesn't she know that facing near death in that heap just makes the rest of life that much sweeter?"

Trent chuckled for a bit before beginning to hack up a lung and then falling into contemplative silence.

"Trent, it sounds like to me that right now, you are worried over nothing. If she isn't asking Jesse to change or leave the band then she must like him for who he is, right? Casually help him to see that, but let him know that making the effort to be better for her is admirable. He probably feels conflicted about that as much as you do. Just be there for your friend, be happy for him, and understand that the easiest way to kill a friendship is to demand that everything stays the same. Trust me, I learned that lesson the hard way."

"Thanks Daria. Plus, maybe with these new lyrics we can get better gigs so he won't leave us to go chase after the all-mighty dollar," he said as he looked at me with a small smile, "so, any other conditions?"

"Yeah, actually, and it's probably the one you'll hate the most. If we do this, if I work with you on writing new songs, you need to know that my creativity works very different than yours does. If I get frustrated or mad at someone, it's a huge block and I can't move past it for a while. Therefore, you need to promise me that you will try to be considerate towards me and understand how I think."

"Is this about that school project you and Janey asked me to make some music for? I thought we got past that Daria," Trent exclaimed with a voice that sounded both lazy and frustrated at the same time.

"We are past it. I don't care about that anymore, it was a trivial high school thing that happened over a year ago, but you were right in that we should have considered how you operate if we wanted results. Now, I'm doing this for you as a favor. I need you to consider how I operate if you want good results. I need more structure for my creativity to thrive. I need specified plans laid out detailing when we are going to work on this. If we make plans, you can't flake out on me and not show up because you are late or slept in."

"I don't work well under those situations, but if it helps you I'll make the effort. I can agree to all of your needs Daria, so what do you say, will you work with me to make Mystik Spiral's songs even more kick-ass than they already are?"

_How can I improve on perfection? This is going to be harder than I thought if I have to keep a straight face when he says shit like that._

"Ok, I'm in."

"Great, then I have one condition too."


	6. Chapter 6

**June 24****th**

"Alright, I'll bite, what's your condition Trent?"

"You and Janey are always making cracks about the band when you think we can't hear you …"

Seeing the look of embarrassment and guilt that suddenly washed over my face, he quickly added to that last statement.

"… I'm not mad about it, especially because I kind of agree with a lot of what you have said. You can be pretty harsh, but at the core of it a lot of what you said has been right."

"So … you want me to ease up and not be so critical?"

"No, I want you to be open and honest about the band and our music. You hide too much from me Daria, and maybe if you had told me all of these things to my face long ago I could have improved something by now."

_I can't figure out what that look on his face means, and usually I'm pretty good at reading people. If he wants my true beliefs on the band though, I might let loose and ruin our friendship for good. Better be careful, thar' be monsters in these uncharted waters …_

"You really want my honest opinion?"

"Yep, go ahead. Let me have it," he challenged.

I took a deep breath and made sure I was comfortable on the couch. This might take a while.

"The aspects of music theory you guys have is alright. When you guys have been really practicing and have the music down your rhythm, texture, and arrangement of scales is pretty good but some of the other areas need a little work. You might be able to deal with that if you actually practiced more instead of using that time to get high and talk about how you guys are going to make it one day."

"Ok, more real effort when we get together. We can try that. What's your opinion on our skills, individually?"

"Well, Jesse is probably the best musician in the group but he needs to be a little more focused."

Trent bit his lip and looked away briefly; I guess even in my attempts to bring up the good points I have about the band I was insulting him. No one wants to hear that they aren't the best. I decided to move on before this got any weirder.

"Max needs a lot of work; the drummer is supposed to keep the beat for the rest of you but he's all over the place. But his energy and stamina level is really impressive. If he had more ambition I could see that guy winning triathlons."

"Yeah, too bad he's just as lazy as me, huh?"

"Nick's playing is fine over all, actually his slapping technique is really good, but he gets a little too enthusiastic and that's when he gets sloppy. He actually is the opposite of Max; his skill is better but he gets bursts of energy and then fizzles out towards the end of a set. Your playing is good, but you could be better if you were actually wake during your at-home 'practice' sessions. Really you just need better control over yourself as you play. Your real talent is your voice; it's really unique and you can do some interesting things with it, but you need to treat it like you would an instrument and start stretching your range."

"Hhhhmmmm ….."

"Maybe you guys could try the local junior college music classes? Or find someone near by with the skills you need who can give you some more training?"

Trent just sat there absorbing everything I said. He didn't seem mad or defensive, so I figured it was time to go in for the kill and hoped for the best.

"But the biggest problem you guys have is the lyrics. They are holding you down. Trent, you need to open you mind up to a better rhyming scheme."

"How do you figure?" Trent's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly at that. I worried that he was either going to fall back asleep or he was getting pissed at me for being too up front.

"Well, you pretty much just stick with the most common 'A,B,A,B' or the monorhyme scheme of 'A,A,A,A'. It gets a little stale after a while … and you tend to force a rhyme that makes no sense just to keep the scheme going."

_Wow, I might be going a bit too fast with this honesty thing. I might overwhelm him with the truth, but once I start it's hard for me to stop._

"I don't always do that, do I?" he asked with a slight hurt tone in his voice. I could see this was going to be an exercise for me in walking a fine line between crushing his feelings and guiding him to be better and I really had no practice with tact.

"Oh no," I said hurrying to try to protect his ego, "sometimes you throw in a Rubiayat rhyme, and a few times I've heard you use a Cinquain scheme. I think you might be comfortable experimenting with enclosed rhyming, or couplet style, and I think after a while we should try out the 'rhyme royal' scheme."

"Huh, I guess you're right. Mystic Spiral will never go anywhere if we don't branch out and try to get out of this rut we are in right now. How do you know this stuff Daria? You hiding a secrete musician boyfriend or something from us?" he laughed.

_Oh god, if he only knew. I can feel my face burning already. I had really hoped that I had left that part of me behind; I'm not going to be able to sit here and hang with him all day if I'm beet-red the whole time. Why is he eyeing my like that? If I didn't know any better … no. I do know better. Don't even think that, it will open that can of worms all over again. And what's with that laugh? I still have no idea why each of his laughs ends up sounding like a cough, but I don't think that's good. He should go to the doctor or something … it's been too long; say something out loud for a change!_

"I took a music appreciation class last quarter to fill out my humanities requirement. No secrete boyfriend; you think I'd still be this tightly wound if I had a real boyfriend right about now?"

No sooner had those words come out of my stupid mouth than I clapped a hand tight over my lips. I could actually taste my embarrassment and I'm sure I went from beet-red to radioactive-red. I risked a glance over at Trent. He was openly staring at me with an expression of surprise and smug knowing, with one of those damned eyebrows cocked up; like he was asking me a question without saying a word. Then he burst out laughing, surprisingly this time without a cough, before slapping an arm around my shoulders.

"Well look who's human after all. Just remember: you said it, not me. Now let's get to work, god, I feel dirty just saying that …"


	7. Chapter 7

**July 10****th**

The days of summer were going by really fast now that I was occupied. Mom however did not know how productive Trent and I were, and so she had been constantly nagging me about finding a job or to volunteer somewhere. Surprisingly, Trent of all people helped set me up with employment.

_That day when he asked me to go to Axl's Piercing Parlor with him, I was a mess. I thought for sure he was taking me to try and get my belly button pierced again; or worse, that tattoo he mentioned when he found out my hole closed up._

Thankfully however no needles touched me that day. Axl was apparently looking for some help around the shop, and he basically hired me as soon as Trent told him that I don't fall asleep at the drop of a hat and that I have too many morals to steal. It was easy work too. I made appointments for the tattooists and piercers and made sure that they knew about them, checked everyone's ID, made sure that the spelling was right in the tattoos, and kept track of the inventory. It was a bonus that most of my duties easily only took up about one full hour of my time, so Trent hung out at the shop with me and we kept up working on Spiral songs most of the day.

_It was also a bonus because I surprisingly fell into a job where I get to watch people pay to be tortured all day; that and this job absolutely freaks out both of my parents. Especially after they met Axl. That was a fun day …_

Jane and Trent's contractors finished, so they moved back to their place and I got to move back into my room a few days ago. I made sure to write Quinn a note letting her know that I had not taken the opportunity to snoop around her room and as payment was considering her absence my bribe. I also threw in there that I wouldn't be perturbed when she came back and spent some time with me. I would probably regret that move.

Before they left Jane and Trent surprised us by giving us thank-you gifts. Jane painted a huge canvas for my parents, and Trent had found some more old records from the 60's at Jesse's house that Mom and Dad went all nostalgic-nuts for when they saw them. Jane let me know that she considered her presence my gift.

"Where can I get that refunded?"

"I'd suggest trying my parents, but considering that you are a dead-beat who never paid anyway I don't recommend traipsing the globe trying to find them," Jane deadpanned.

My gift from Trent really shocked me; both because I wasn't expecting one and also with its thoughtfulness. He got me a small, blood red wrap around leather-covered journal with amazingly textured paper that could be refilled with new packs over time. It was simple but elegant, and I loved it.

"I made sure that is was small enough to fit in your jacket pocket so you can carry it all the time. I thought you might want something that you don't have to leave where someone might happen across it; plus you never know when you might have something you want out of your head," he smiled warmly at me. Jane gave me an odd look, so that night on our way over to Pizza King I explained to her what had been going on.

_Glad I waited till we were alone, because the jabs came non-stop so at least no one was around to hear them. It took me a while, but I think after she watched our process the other day I finally convinced her that what is going on between us right now is nothing but work between friends._

Yet it wasn't really feeling like work to write these songs. I would spend most of my time tweaking some of the band's classic songs like "Every Dog Has His Day" and "Ow, My Face" while I sat nervously by as Trent read through more of my personal ramblings in my composition books. I had gone through my stacks of them and pulled out the ones I was fairly sure had nothing about him in them, but it still made me a wreck seeing him flip the pages of my mental activity over the past 5 years and scribble notes and phrases down. He would often point to some cluster of lines and ask what I had been thinking about when I wrote that or what emotions I was going through to further his own inspiration and connection. When he had enough raw materials for a song, he would sit with me and we would hammer out the kinks until it flowed as he strummed his guitar. Trent had been taking our stuff to band practice, and today he came up to me and told me it was time.

"Time for what?" I asked.

"Time for you to come to practice with me and collaborate with the whole band. I told you the first day I came back after practice that the guys loved what I showed them, but you still didn't want them to know about you. Well, I told them last night. They were kinda figuring it out for themselves anyway since none of the songs I've brought them are like my past writing."

"Thanks for the heads up," I rolled my eyes at him. I guess it wasn't a big deal, but I wasn't really prepared to go talk about this stuff yet with other people.

"They told me to make sure you were coming today, so be ready to go at …"

I cut him off.

"Trent, let's just assume that we are already late and go to Jesse's for practice. You drive; I'll order pizza for delivery."

A short ride, later, I found myself following Trent through Jesse's house and into his garage where the guys were loudly playing a song I hadn't heard before.

"Hey guys, look who I managed to make an appointment with," Trent exclaimed as we walked through the doorway into the hot and dusty space.

I heard all three guys greet me, but I was more interested in their faces. As I said hi to each of them I noticed that they all looked at me a little differently. Actually, that was exactly what was different. They were really looking at me. Before it had always seemed like I was invisible to them; even when they talked to me in the past it had always felt like they were talking in my general direction I just happened to receive their sound waves. I was not comfortable with this sudden visual contact even if I had known these guys now for years.

"I need to go back outside for a sec, I left my guitar out in the car," Trent told us before turning towards me and whispering in my ear, "don't worry Daria, they all want you here. No one thinks of you as a Yoko."

I don't know if it was the heat of the room or if I was just nervous under these new scrutinizing looks from the guys, but I was going way past comfortably warm. Too warm, in fact, to keep my usual jacket on so I stripped it off to reveal my plain black long-sleeved shirt that I had worn with a pair of loose, military green twill pants and my boots.

"So … I ordered a pizza. My treat. I figured Jesse's parents would love to not have to feed you guys for a day. What's up?" I tried to clear what had become an uncomfortable silence in the room.

"Pizza? Cool. I'm starving; we've just been working on one of your songs," Jesse told me.

Nick chimed in by telling me "We've been working on all of them, but like I guess Trent told you we are stuck on a few parts; some of them just don't flow that well with the music so we are glad you're here to help fix them."

"Yeah, 'cause I think we all know that Trent wouldn't be able fix these songs by himself." Max said as he rolled his eyes.

_Wow, I always wondered if the other guys in the band realized how bad their songs were. The fact that they let Trent keep writing them is amazing, unless of course he was the best they had … whoa. If that's the case my eyes might bleed if I ever get a chance to read any songs the others might have written._

"You guys liked everything? Even though a large portion of all of that is from someone outside of the band?"

"Come on Daria you've been, like, the sixth member of the band for years now," Max stated as he pointed a drumstick at me.

"The sixth?" I queried.

Nick decided to explain that one for me. "Yeah, Jane's always been the fifth since she's been our sorta manager/roadie since she was 12 years old. Then you came along and you chipped in for gas, showed up for nearly every show, helped lug around equipment at gigs, went on tour with us, survived the Tank, hell you even drove out of state to bail us out of jail! Now you're bringing pizza to our practice, which of course will make all of us fall in love with you forever and ever, and helping to write us better songs. All of that made you our second silent band mate."

"Yeah," said Jesse as he smiled at me and clapped a hand on my back, which he removed with surprising speed after Trent came back in the garage with his guitar case. Trent glared at Jesse a little, and to my surprise Max and Nick exchanged a look and a laugh.

_Wonder what the hell that was about. Whatever, probably just my mind going nuts and reading too much into things again. I had no idea these guys even knew I was using the same air as them half the time. Jesse was always a little out of it and Nick and Max were always too busy arguing between themselves to notice me. Or so I thought. Guess I haven't been giving any of these boys enough credit._

"Alright guys, let's play Daria the songs we have finished so she can hear what we've done. Daria, if you have any comments jot them down and tell us about them at the end. Remember," Trent emphasized as he leveled his gaze on me that I tried to avoid for some unknown reason, "you promised me you'd be honest."

"You sure you guys can collectively handle my honesty? I've been known to be a bit overwhelming and I've REALLY held back a lot of my opinions about Mystik Spiral in the past."

Max, the one who I always pegged as the most emotionally sensitive of the group spoke up quickly.

"We're grown men, little girl. You can't scare us."

"Max, I promise you; if I want to not only can I scare you, I can make you cry," I teased with an evil half-smile, "I have a track record. Then we'll see who the little girl is."

Jesse and Nick started chuckling. Max looked at me first with trepidation, but it eased up into a smile and he laughed too.

_Poor fool; he must think I'm joking. May the gods have pity on him if he ever pisses me off because he's the one that threw down the challenge._

Finally, I stopped looking at everything else and turned my head to look at Trent. He, apparently, had not stopped looking at me. Normally, prolonged eye contact with anyone makes me really uncomfortable, but I didn't shy away from it this time.

"What about you Trent?" I guess I was feeling brave all of a sudden, but I felt that I needed to lay down a verbal challenge to all of the guys in a way. Let them know I couldn't be walked all over.

Trent squinted at me for a second, before snickering and shaking his head at me. Not once did he break eye contact though as he met my challenge.

"Daria, I can handle anything you throw at me."


	8. Chapter 8

***Epilogue- Trent's POV***

**November 15****th**

_I can't fucking believe it. Pretty soon, we're going to be playing on the same stage that was basically the delivery room for the birth of American Punk: CBGB's. The sweat alone, not counting any of the other numerous fluids, that has fallen on that stage over the years has more talent in it than 100 Mystik Spiral's put together. Before we set up, I'm going to fall onto my hands and knees when we get there and lick that stage._

Me and the guys are going to be forever in Janey's debt for this. She had been dating some guy for a month that I hated when he finally told her that his cousin worked at CB's. At first I think we all thought it was a load, but the little ass-hat had pulled through after Jane gave him some recordings of our new stuff to give to his cousin. Now here we are, plus Janey and Daria of course after they ditched the last two days of their school week to come home for this, in the Tank on our way from Lawndale to Manhattan.

_This would have never of happened for us six months ago. Thank god Daria agreed to help us out; she really kicked our asses and got our heads out of the sand. Our music is really coming along. We still need a lot of work, but I think she was right and maybe we should all start taking some lessons or something._

I was driving and as usual everyone was shoved in the back expect for Daria, who seemed to always end up in the shot-gun seat. I took a quick peak over at her, still not sure how to deal with the fact that we had gotten a lot closer over the summer. Now that she was back at school and working it was hard to get a chance to see her, but recently the band had been booking a lot of away gigs and we made it a point to try and get up to Boston when we could so that I could see the girls. We called each other almost every week, sort of under the pretense of working on Mystik Spiral songs, but usually we ended up talking about everything except the music. I hadn't seen her for over a month though, so the fact that she looked different really caught me off guard. She was chewing on her thumbnail, staring out the window, looking lost in her own mind. I knew that she was stressed out, she always sounded strained to me when we talked recently, but she never opened up about why and I didn't push her.

_When did she cut her hair, it looks great. Still kinda long but more choppy, more polished, and thankfully she didn't change that color that I love. Makes her look more grown up. I guess she's wearing her contacts tonight; I'll have to slyly ask Janey if she still wears her glasses at all._

I could tell that she was experimenting with changing up her look right now, but still sticking to what makes her comfortable. She still doesn't like makeup, but I think she looks better without any of that crap. She was smart to wear those old boots; you never know when you'll need a weapon in New York, but I had seen her wearing different shoes here and there recently. She's been changing up her old wardrobe recently but does she know what she does to guys, especially me, with that outfit she's got on? Daria was wearing a simple black and red striped shirt, a new black skirt that didn't have any pleats and was a little shorter than her old stand-by, and purple fishnet stockings.

_Still can't believe it. Purple. Fishnet. Stockings. Or are they tights? No idea unless I see her without the skirt on, and that will probably never happen…_

"It sucks that it's an early Thursday night slot, instead of something on a weekend night where we might get more of a crowd," Max complained from the back, pulling me out of my silent ogling of Daria.

"Hey man, just be glad you get to breath the air in there soon as a performer. Besides, come on, a gig's a gig. Right, Daria?"

Daria laughed, one of her rare out-loud laughs that didn't sound evil, before casting me a side-long glace and replying.

"Whoa, Trent. You really know a lot about music."

FIN

***Author's End Note***

So yeah, my take on Daria's growth (sorta) right out of her first year at Raft. Building up a relationship with Trent by helping Mystik Spiral right songs. If you've seen it once, you've seen em' all. Yes, that last exchange is from my most hated episode, "Depth Takes a Holiday", but that part was the only one of two moments in that episode that I liked. Since this is supposed to be a 'real-world' depiction of Daria, I have no clue why I threw it in there. Guess it just seemed to fit.**  
**

I don't really write fiction, and I don't even consider myself a writer. My grammar isn't that great, I have a hard time writing in thrid-person, I have a spelling disability, and I suck at writing dialog. Yet, I am one hell of an editor for other people's work so I hope I can carry that over to my own work (so far, results indicate that I'm not as good beta-ing my own stuff lol). I know I'm a little long-winded; but most of this stuff was background for other stories. Even though this is the first story in a series I'm working on, it was actually the last one I wrote. I figured that my other two needed a little more background information for the readers, but each of the stories can be read as a stand-alone. If you liked this story and want to see where it goes from here, please go read the next installment called "The Pole", it should be up shortly. Thanks for reading and hope that if you enjoyed this one you'll read and enjoy the next part.


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